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Berlin Farmer Wins Donation

BERLIN — A Worcester County farmer week was selected as the winner in the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program and had $2,500 donation made to the American Cancer Society in his name.

Berlin farmer Kenneth Littleton was selected last week as a winner in the America’s Farmers Grow Communities program, which gives farmers the opportunity to win $2,500 for their favorite local non-profit organizations. The Monsanto Fund sponsors the program and winning farmers designate a local non-profit organization to benefit from the donations.

Littleton designated the ACS to receive the donation in his name and the $2,500 donation was awarded at a ceremony last Friday at Frontiertown during a Relay for Life event.

Perdue Headed To Hall

SALISBURY — The Delmarva Shorebirds this week announced Frank Perdue will be inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame at the All-Star Game luncheon in June.

Perdue is credited for the single biggest reason Arthur W. Perdue Stadium, home to the Shorebirds, was constructed in the mid-1990s when he donated $4 million to the joint venture between Maryland Baseball and Perdue to build the minor league baseball stadium that bears his name. Perdue also donated 39 acres of prime real estate for the construction site of the stadium.

Cardin Introduces Nutria Bill

BERLIN — U.S. Senator Ben Cardin last week reintroduced bipartisan legislation to expand nutria eradication efforts in Maryland waters and in four other coastal states.

The nutria is a large, semi-aquatic rodent often described as “an eating machine” that can eat up to 25 percent of its body weight in important wetlands plants each day. It is a highly reproductive species that has devastated wetlands throughout coastal areas of Maryland and other states, turning them into barren mudflats that cannot be re-vegetated.

“I have seen first-hand the damage done by nutria to the wetlands on the Eastern Shore,” said Cardin. “A strong nutria eradication program is critical to protecting our wetlands from this invasive species that has such a destructive capability.”

It is estimated that nutria has destroyed 5,000 acres of marshland in the Eastern Shore’s Blackwater Wildlife Refuge alone. The destruction of wetlands by nutria is costing the Maryland economy $4 million per year.

In 2000, the federally funded Maryland Nutria Project was launched and has since helped eradicate nutria from 150,000 acres in Wicomico, Somerset, Dorchester, Talbot and Caroline Counties. The legislation introduced by Cardin last week would authorize additional funding for the eradication project in Maryland and neighboring states Delaware and Virginia for the next five years.

Earl Weaver To Headline

SALISBURY — The Delmarva Shorebirds announced this week former Baltimore Orioles manager and Hall of Famer Earl Weaver will headline the South Atlantic League All-Star Game Fan Fest in June.

The All-Star Game Fan Fest will take place at Arthur W. Perdue Stadium in Salisbury on June 21 beginning at 2:30 p.m. Weaver is scheduled to appear at Fan Fest from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. to sign autographs and interact with fans. In addition, Weaver will serve as honorary manager during the South Atlantic League All-Star game later that evening and will participate in the exchange of line-up cards at home plate prior to the start of the game at 7:30 p.m.

Weaver, nicknamed the “Earl of Baltimore,” managed the Orioles for 17 years from 1968 to 1982, and again from 1985 to 1986. He won 1,480 games as skipper of the Orioles and also won six American League East championships, four American League pennants and a World Series championship in 1970.

Weaver also led the Orioles to five 100-plus win seasons. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996 and ranks 19th all time in victories.

Turtle Excluder Device Reminder

BERLIN — The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) this week is reminding recreational crabbers in coastal areas around the state to install the required Turtle Excluder Device (TED) on their crab pots.

With the arrival of warm weather and the summer season, recreational crabbers in Maryland will set crab pots all over the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays, but the simple installation of a TED will prevent the destruction of diamondback turtles and other unintended by-catch. Each year, the DNR receives reports of turtles and terrapins that are trapped and drowned in crab pots.

A TED is a rectangular frame made of wire or plastic with interior dimensions not to exceed one-and-three quarter inches in height and four-and-three-quarter inches in length. They function by not allowing most turtles to get their shell through the opening into the crab pot, while still allowing crabs to enter.